All right, Fwoosh! It’s been a minute. Good to be back, with some new toys, even. Not very long ago, we got the Siege Leader class Ultra Magnus. A damn fine figure, that, naturally, had a smaller white Optimus bot within the armor. It wasn’t hard to imagine we would see a retool of the Optimus, with some new armor, later in the line.
I was not expecting it this quickly, or in this flavor, though.
Galaxy Force Upgrade Optimus, if you’re either really old or really new to Transformers, is based on his appearance in Transformers: Cybertron (Galaxy Force in Japan) from the Unicron Trilogy. “Galaxy” was obviously a good choice, otherwise this figure’s name might have been “Transformers Siege: War for Cybertron Cybertron Upgrade Optimus Prime.” I think I may have owned this Leader Prime at one point or another, but the jist is pretty consistent with other Primes- he has a smaller bot mode, occasionally chubby, that combines with his trailer parts to make a beefier, more heavily armed mega-bot. The Cybertron version had better proportions than the Energon one, for example, but I never quite got into these designs for Optimus.
But, like it or not, it’s apparent from recent IDW solicitations, this is going to be Optimus’ look in the books for a while- at least the base mode. So, despite being packaged in Mega mode, we’ll start here.
Prime’s base mode is probably the most in common with Magnus, with mostly just new torso pieces here. He is a voyager class, just like the G1 version (and the base Magnus), and because he borrows from that aesthetic, he has a pretty good look here, if a bit boxy. Articulation is great, with the unique transformation not limiting him, and the paint apps are nice as well- I can see folks swapping Optimus heads to get a more toy-accurate look on the G1 version. He does have some of the silver scraping effect in this mode, but that will show up more in his weaponed up look.
Transformation to truck is the same as Magnus, just keep in mind those frot bumper sections will de-tatch for the bigger mode- you can also use them here to get him a little closer to the C/GF look. I think the look isn’t necessarily a direct homage to the original, kind of more it’s own thing, but it does remind me of Star Convoy a little.
From here, the amount of remolding gets pretty serious, and pretty clever. While being made up of similar parts as the Magnus car carrier mode- the boots, chestpiece, and shoulder armor- the wings make up more of the sides of the trailer, with a lot less folding panels… actually, with none of those panels, even though they even look like they do. The end result isnt as pleasing as the Magnus Car Robots look, but then again, neither was the original. All the parts get used (turns out the shoulder parts store in the boots, not like I have them in pics), and it holds together well.
Weaponry is a little different for obvious reasons, as most of this is done with the two ladder cannons on top. The right one seperates into a smaller blaster as well. In addition to those, he has the same two big blaster pistols, and these come in handy filling in the gaps in vehicle mode.
But the main draw is the Super mode. The parts all break off the trailer mode and snap on just like his mold-mate, other than the forearm guard/cannons we talked about. The new cbest piece gives Prime a lot better pecs, and helps the build feel less blocky. The head is very close to the C/GF figure, minus the hinged wings, but comes across really well with the new proportions. The wingpack adds a ton of mass without a lot of back weight, and the cannons can store in flight mode on his back, or deploy under his arms for battle mode.
And that feature kinda sells the whole figure. The cannons have some articulation to allow some traverse and angle, and the handles are on sliders to help them line up with his hands. Of course, you can up the ante by moving the twin blaster pistols to his forearms, and that gives him literally full firepower at his fingertips. The blast effects can also port into any of these, meaning I really need more effects. He also picks up a few more paint apps, like the nice white rib parts and some extra silver damage. I have to say, the colors go a long way to making this a very striking figure.
Size-wise, the wings alone make this feel very Leader class, but Magnus still feels a little thicker, since his bulk is more concentrated. He scales nicely though with him and Shockwave; certainly imposing, but not completely dwarfing the voyager class.
So, is it worth the 50 bucks or so he’s asking at Wal-Mart, where I found mine? I think so. If you were into Transformers during Cybertron, I would say that’s a “know so.” The draw is the mode you see right in the box, and I feel super mode alone justifies the price. The base bot mode isn’t bad either, and the vehicle mode is servicable, if not a standout, so there’s good value balanced overall. Seeing how dramatically he is altered from Magnus, I’d love to see what else he could be retooled into- I still think he’s begging to become a Powermaster Prime.